Presenting a conceptual model of the relationship between philosophy for children (with an emphasis on the dimension of caring thinking) and emotional intelligence

Although some reasearchers have shown the relationship between philosophy for children (P4C) and emotional intelligence (EQ), the quality of this relationship has not been investigated carefully. In this paper, authors seek to present a conceptual model to show the relationship between P4C (focusing on caring thinking) and EQ. The method of study was analytic-descriptive. The data showed that caring thinking as an inseparable part of P4C has cognitive, emotional and practical dimensions and includes activities such as definition and distinction of emotional terms and concepts, experiences of various emotions, exploring emotions, examining the relationship between emotions and judgments, approaches and situations, attention and valuation, empathy, moral and social experiences, emotional support and facilitation. These activities are in line with the four domains of EQ, i.e., perceiving and expressing emotions, facilitating thought through emotions, understanding and regulating them effectively; so that the abilities related to the domains of EQ grow, in parallel with training the caring thinking. As a result, it is suggested that while using the P4C program, relying to just caring thinking should be avoided and in the situations where the development of the EQ dimension is intended, training the caring thinking should be considered, respectively.